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k.<^<^ 


LJgRARY 

CAUrO»»N<A 

SAN  DieQO 


THE 

EARLY    RENAISSANCE 


IN 


ENGLAND. 


aottton :   C.  J.  CLAY  and  SONS, 

CAMBRIDGE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS   WAREHOUSE, 

AVE   MARIA  LANE. 

«5la8flofa:  263,  ARGYLE  STREET. 


iLeipjifl:    F.  A.   BROCKHAUS. 
0,tbi  Sotft:   MACMILLAN  AND  CO. 


THE 

EARLY     RENAISSANCE 

IN 

ENGLAND 


THE    REDE    LECTURE 

DELIVERED    IN    THE   SENATE-HOUSE 

ON  JUNE    13,    189s 


BY 


MANDELL    CREIGHTON,    D.D. 

LORD   BISHOP   OF   PETERBOROUGH. 


CAMBRIDGE: 
AT  THE  UNIVERSITY   PRESS. 

1895 


Cambrilige : 

PRINTED   BY  J.   &   C.    F.    CLAY, 
AT  THE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS. 


^^^3^3 


THE    EARLY    RENAISSANCE 
IN    ENGLAND. 

It  is  sometimes  worth  while,  even  for  a 
lecturer,  to  look  at  the  rock  whence  he  was 
hewn,  and  to  content  himself  with  explaining 
why  he  exists.  This  is  the  humble  purpose 
which  I  have  set  before  myself  Other  lecturers, 
in  their  yearly  courses,  have  celebrated  the 
advance  of  science,  or  have  unfolded  the  de- 
velopment of  thought.  I  would  ask  you  to  go 
back  with  me  and  consider  some  of  the  causes 
which  made  this  progress  possible,  some  of 
the  labours  of  forgotten  men  by  whose  good- 
will and  zeal  our  intellectual  heritage  has  been 
slowly  built  up.  When  Sir  Robert  Rede  founded 
this   lectureship    in    1518   he   did    so    because 


lo  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

he  wished  to  enrich  the  University  with  oppor- 
tunities which  it  had  not  possessed  before.  He 
wished  to  broaden  its  studies  by  favouring  that 
New  Learning  which  was  changing  men's  views 
about  the  world  and  life.  My  object  this 
morning  is  to  discover  the  motives  which 
probably  weighed  with  him  and  explain  the 
meaning  of  what  he  did. 

The  Renaissance  is  a  familiar  theme ;  and 
its  history  in  Italy  has  been  elaborately  studied 
of  late  years.  Perhaps  so  much  has  been 
written  about  it  that  its  main  features  have  been 
somewhat  obscured.  Italy  was  the  home  of  the 
Renaissance  movement,  and  attention  has  been 
chiefly  given  to  the  most  exaggerated  forms 
which  it  there  assumed,  while  its  simpler,  I 
might  almost  say  its  normal,  development,  has 
been  somewhat  overlooked.  Let  me  try  and 
put  before  you  in  its  simplest  form  the  chief 
object  of  that  intellectual  movement  which  we 
have  agreed  to  call  the  Renaissance. 

The  great  formative  power  of  ancient   life 


IN  ENGLAND. 


was  the  culture  derived  from  Hellas.  Culture 
after  all  means  an  attitude  towards  life,  and  the 
attitude  expressed  by  Hellenic  thought  was  one 
of  clear  outlook  upon  the  world,  frank  accept- 
ance of  things  as  they  were,  and  resoluteness 
in  clothing  them  with  beautiful  form.  These 
qualities  of  the  Hellenic  mind  were  to  some 
degree  impressed  upon  the  sterner  and  more 
practical  mind  of  Rome,  which  gave  them  wide 
dominion.  But  Rome,  with  all  its  capacity  for 
action,  lacked  the  faculty  of  preserving  by 
perpetual  readjustments  the  spiritual  concep- 
tions on  which  natural  life  must  ultimately  be 
based.  Each  step  in  Rome's  expansion  left 
it  poorer  in  actual  contents,  till  it  fell  through 
sheer  exhaustion.  In  the  downfall  of  material 
civilization,  in  the  miseries  of  barbarian  in- 
vasions, the  new  power  of  Christianity  alone 
survived  and  was  strong  enough  to  build  up 
again  the  life  of  man  upon  an  enduring  basis; 
but  the  task  was  enormous,  the  struggle  was 
arduous,  and  amid  the  general  wreckage  only 


8  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

such  elements  of  the  old  civilisation  survived 
as  had  been  absorbed  by  Christianity.  This 
revived  society  bore  manifold  traces  of  the 
conflict  which  had  been  necessary  to  train 
and  discipline  the  conscience  to  an  abiding 
sense  of  duty.  But  as  society  became  more 
settled,  as  material  civilisation  was  again  re- 
covered, as  men  had  more  leisure,  and  life  grew 
richer,  the  need  was  felt  for  fuller  recognition  of 
the  primary  and  immediate  objects  of  that  life 
— of  the  thoughts  and  fancies  and  passions 
of  which  each  man  was  directly  conscious  in  his 
individual  experience.  There  had  been  such  an 
expression  once ;  it  must  be  recovered.  Italy, 
as  the  most  ancient  nation,  felt  most  keenly  the 
need  of  regaining  its  forgotten  treasures.  The 
Renaissance  was  the  movement  for  this  purpose. 
At  first  the  movement  was  unconscious,  and 
it  is  difficult  to  fix  upon  a  time  which  made 
it  definite.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  the  im- 
portant crisis  in  the  fortunes  of  any  movement 
is    that    which    impresses    its    aim    upon    the 


IN  ENGLAND. 


imagination  of  the  multitude.  Such  an  im- 
pression was  made  by  one  who  is  not  much 
recognised  in  this  connexion,  by  Francis  of 
Assisi.  The  unconscious  purpose  of  his  life 
was  to  find  peace  for  himself  by  freedom  from 
all  common  ties  and  conventions,  so  he  might 
live  unfettered  and  unhindered  in  joyous  com- 
munion with  God  and  man.  All  the  world 
was  his,  because  he  called  nothing  his  own  :  all 
men  were  his  brothers ;  the  delights  of  outward 
nature,  the  companionship  of  birds  and  beasts, 
were  his  to  the  full,  for  God  bestowed  them 
upon  him.  His  life  was  a  poem  which  told 
of  the  joys  of  liberty,  of  earth's  loveliness,  of 
the  delight  of  human  intercourse  founded  on 
pure  love.  Francis  announced,  in  a  way  that 
could  not  be  forgotten,  that  it  was  possible 
to  have  a  clear  outlook  on  the  world,  to  see 
in  things  as  they  were  a  promise  of  what  they 
should  be  and  to  clothe  them  with  beauty.  I 
admit  that  his  message  was  delivered  fantastic- 
ally, that  its  method  was  impossible  for  ordinary 


THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 


men,  but  it  was  a  message  none  the  less.  Its 
spirit  was  not  forgotten.  It  created  the  great 
theologians  of  the  succeeding  age  :  it  lies  at 
the  bottom  of  all  that  is  loftiest  in  Dante : 
it  inspired  the  art  of  Giotto.  It  went  far  to 
make  all  these  men  possible,  because  it  prepared 
men's  minds  to  understand  their  object,  and 
sympathise  with  their  efforts  to  set  forth  the 
unity  yet  variety  of  life.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
there  was  ever  after  the  time  of  Francis  a 
constant  endeavour  to  grasp  human  character 
with  all  its  powers  and  capacities ;  and  the 
scientific  means  towards  this  end  was  the  study 
of  classical  literature.  Italy  gave  itself  to  this 
object,  and  its  separate  states  vied  with  one 
another  in  their  zeal.  Plato  lamented  that  in 
his  days  the  study  of  geometry  was  neglected 
because  no  state  held  it  in  sufficient  repute. 
The  Italian  city  communities  were  convinced 
that  the  pursuit  of  classical  culture  was  an 
object  of  political  importance.  Scholars  were 
esteemed  as  public  benefactors ;   they  enjoyed 


IN  ENGLAND. 


exceptional  advantages  ;  they  were  freely  sup- 
plied with  leisure  for  their  studies  ;  their  lectures 
were  crowded.  It  was  as  disgraceful  for  a  man 
of  position  not  to  be  a  patron  of  scholarship,  as 
it  would  be  nowadays  if  he  refused  to  subscribe 
to  the  local  hospital ;  everyone  was  bound 
to  be  interested  in  literature,  and  show  his 
good  taste  by  some  addition  to  the  beauty 
and  enjoyment  of  the  common  life. 

The  band  of  scholars  which  was  thus  pro- 
duced was  divided  into  two  great  parties,  a 
division  which  seems  to  be  inevitable  in  all  that 
man  attempts.  The  object  of  their  efforts  was 
to  explain  and  set  forward  the  individual.  How 
was  this  to  be  done }  by  taking  the  existing 
individual  and  developing  its  powers ;  or  by 
the  creation  of  a  new  form  of  character,  eman- 
cipated from  existing  shackles,  and  frankly 
formed  upon  the  antique  model  t  This  was 
the  question  which  divided  the  Humanists. 
Both  parties  were  agreed  about  the  paramount 
importance     of    classical    studies,    both    were 


12  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

opposed  to  the  old-fashioned  modes  of  thought 
and  means  of  education.  But  one  party  wished 
to  expand,  the  other  to  subvert ;  one  party  was 
Christian  and  progressive ;  the  other  was  revo- 
lutionary and  pagan. 

It  was  only  in  Italy  that  this  pagan  party 
found  strong  support,  and  expressed  itself  with 
freedom.  All  movements  tend  to  be  judged  by 
their  extreme  representatives.  Much  that  has 
been  written  about  the  Renaissance  in  Italy 
treats  its  most  extravagant  exponents  as  typical 
of  all,  and  does  not  adequately  distinguish. 
But  when  we  attempt  to  consider  the  influence 
of  the  Renaissance  outside  Italy,  as  I  am  trying 
to  do,  we  must  clearly  differentiate  three  classes 
of  students.  First  of  all,  there  were  the  men  of 
the  old  school,  who  were  assiduous  students  of 
classical  literature,  but  used  it  as  a  help  to  their 
own  pursuits.  Secondly,  there  were  the  Hu- 
manists, who  wished  to  extend  the  old  studies, 
and  improve  the  old  methods  of  education,  and 
take  a  freer  outlook  over  the  world.     Thirdly, 


IN  ENGLAND.  13 


there  were  the  Poets  and  rhetoricians,  who  cared 
nothing  for  the  contents  of  life,  but  taking  them- 
selves as  they  were,  strove  only  after  beautiful 
expression,  and  gloried  in  a  freedom  from  pre- 
judice which  they  would  have  all  men  follow. 

It  is  a  matter  of  some  interest  to  see  how 
England  was  affected  by  this  movement.  The 
first  class  of  scholars  was,  I  think,  strongly 
represented,  and  English  writers  early  show  the 
influence  of  considerable  reading  of  the  Classics. 
For  instance,  the  chronicler  William  of  Malmes- 
bury,  who  died  in  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  tells  us  that  his  object  in  writing  was 
"barbarice  exarata  Romano  condire  sale,"  to 
season  with  classical  flavour  the  barbarous 
chronicles  of  his  predecessors.  The  object  and 
phrase  in  which  it  was  expressed  are  alike 
worthy  of  a  Florentine  of  the  best  period.  I 
have  come  across  one  testimony  to  a  knowledge 
of  classics  in  England  in  early  times  which  is  so 
remarkable,  and  so  difficult  of  explanation,  that 
I  think  it  worth  mentioning  even  at  the  risk  of 


^ 


14  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

seeming  pedantic.  ^Eneas  Sylvius,  who  certainly 
knew  MSS.,  says  that  in  the  Library  of  St  Paul's 
in  London  he  found  an  ancient  history,  written, 
according  to  its  colophon,  six  hundred  years 
before,  that  is,  roughly  speaking,  about  800  to 
850  B.C.  "  The  writer  of  this  history,"  he  goes 
on,  "  was  noted  as  the  Greek  Thucydides,  whom 
we  know  by  report  to  have  been  famous:  I 
found,  however,  no  translator's  name."  England 
was  indeed  far  in  advance  of  the  rest  of  Europe 
if  at  that  early  date  it  possessed  a  student 
capable  of  translating  Thucydides.  However 
this  may  be,  England  produced  in  the  fourteenth 
century  one  of  the  earliest  collectors  of  books. 
Richard  of  Bury,  bishop  of  Durham,  was  a  type 
of  the  omnivorous  student:  even  on  his  journeys 
he  carried  a  library  with  him  and  sat  surround- 
ed by  piles  of  books  so  that  it  was  difficult  to 
approach  him.  He  left  his  large  library  to 
Durham  College,  Oxford ;  both  college  and 
library  have  passed  away,  but  the  treatise  which 
he  wrote  on  the  care  of  books  and  the  proper 


IN  ENGLAND.  15 


ordering  of  a  library  still  remains  and  gladdens 
the  hearts  of  librarians.  Moreover  Richard 
visited  Italy  and  was  a  correspondent  of  Petrarch. 
Yet  we  cannot  class  him  as  a  Humanist.  His 
conduct  towards  Petrarch  shows  a  lamentable 
want  of  interest  in  the  problems  which  exercised 
the  men  of  the  New  Learning.  Petrarch  meet- 
ing an  inhabitant  of  the  distant  north  enquired 
eagerly  his  opinion  about  the  identification  of 
the  island  of  Thule.  Richard  answered  that 
when  he  had  returned  home  he  would  consult 
his  books,  and  would  then  be  able  to  satisfy  his 
enquirer's  curiosity.     This  we  now  know  to  be  -t~" 

the  proper  answer  for  a  professor  to  give,  but 
wholly  unsuited  to  a  University  Extension 
lecturer  and  still  more  to  a  man  of  letters. 
Further,  though  Petrarch  frequently  wrote  to 
remind  Richard  of  his  promise,  he  received  no 
answer :  "  so  that,"  he  sadly  remarks,  "  my 
English  friendship  brought  me  no  nearer  to 
Thule."  It  may  be  urged  that  Richard  knew 
nothing  about  the  subject  on  which  his  opinion 


J. 


i6  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

was  asked  ;  but  the  duty  of  a  scholar  was  to 
disguise  his  ignorance  by  drawing  attention  to 
the  beautiful  style  in  which  he  could  clothe  it 
with  irrelevant  remarks  about  everything  else. 
Certainly  a  man  who  lost  an  opportunity  of 
writing  a  long  and  elegant  Latin  letter  to 
Petrarch,  even  though  he  had  nothing  to  say, 
has  no  claim  to  be  considered  a  Humanist. 

Indeed  this  story  shows  that  England,  even 
at  that  time,  exercised  great  caution  in  receiving 
foreign  influences.  Englishmen,  when  abroad, 
were  doubtless  as  sympathetic  as  their  pro- 
verbial stiffness  enabled  them  to  be ;  but  when 
they  returned  home  external  impressions  rapidly 
passed  away  and  insular  stolidity  again  possess- 
ed them.  This  is  seen  in  the  case  of  Henry 
Beaufort,  bishop  of  Winchester,  who  visited 
Constance  during  the  Council  in  1417.  He 
posed  so  successfully  as  a  man  of  letters  that 
the  great  Florentine  scholar  Poggio  Bracciolini 
trusted  to  his  vague  promises  and  came  to 
England  hoping  to  enjoy  the   benefits   of  his 


IN  ENGLAND.  17 


patronage.  But  Poggio's  sojourn  was  one  con- 
tinued disappointment.  Such  of  the  monastic 
libraries  as  he  searched  contained  no  classical 
MSS.  The  English  nobles  lived  in  the  country, 
occupied  in  agricultural  pursuits,  and  were  wool 
merchants  instead  of  patrons  of  letters.  Their 
chief  enjoyment  was  eating,  and  they  cared 
more  about  the  quality  of  the  food  than  the 
refinement  of  the  repast.  Poggio  found  no 
sympathetic  souls,  and  after  waiting  for  eighteen 
months  to  see  what  the  bishop  of  Winchester 
would  do  for  him,  the  mountain  produced  a 
mouse.  He  was  offered  a  small  benefice,  miser- 
ably below  his  expectations.  He  was  so  dis- 
appointed that  he  did  not  choose  to  allude  much 
afterwards  to  his  English  experiences,  and  we 
are  deprived  of  an  interesting  record  of  our 
illiterate  forefathers. 

But  better  days  were  at  hand ;  and  it  is 
strange  that  no  rumour  reached  the  ears  of 
Poggio  of  the  literary  taste  shown  by  Humphrey 
Duke  of  Gloucester,  who  provided  what  Eng- 


i8  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

land  had  not  hitherto  enjoyed,  a  distinguished 
and  wealthy  patron  for  scholars.  Where  Hum- 
phrey acquired  his  fondness  for  letters  it  is  hard 
to  say.  He  was  educated  at  Oxford,  and  in  his 
lifetime  enriched  the  University  with  so  many 
valuable  books  that  he  may  be  regarded  as  the 
founder  of  the  Bodleian  Library.  We  know, 
however,  of  no  teacher  in  Oxford  who  can 
have  turned  his  mind  towards  the  New  Learning ; 
and  his  busy  and  adventurous  life  seems  averse 
from  literary  pursuits.  Yet  Humphrey  is  the 
nearest  approach  in  England  to  an  Italian 
prince,  and  he  was  recognised  as  a  congenial 
soul  by  Italian  scholars.  He  set  himself  to 
bring  Italian  influences  into  England,  and  he 
succeeded  in  turning  the  attention  of  some 
towards  the  acquisition  of  a  polished  style. 

In  this  he  was  helped  by  the  fact  that  the 
Council  of  Basel  drew  many  Englishmen  abroad, 
and  brought  them  into  personal  contact  with 
Italian  scholars.  One  of  these  Italians  es- 
pecially,  .^neas    Sylvius    Piccolomini,   had    a 


IN  ENGLAND.  19 


happy  geniality  of  manner,  and  a  power  of 
exhibiting  the  practical  value  of  that  versatility 
of  character  which  is  the  result  of  culture. 

iEneas  had  his  way  to  make  in  the  world, 
and  early  learned  to  turn  his  hand  to  anything 
that  needed  doing.  He  was  a  keen  observer,  a 
man  of  ready  sympathy,  an  excellent  exponent 
of  the  substantial  value  of  a  good  education  to 
enable  you  to  find  plausible  reasons  for  what  it 
was  expedient  for  you  to  do.  Amongst  others 
whom  he  trained  in  the  art  as  well  as  the 
science  of  scholarship  was  an  Englishman, 
Adam  de  Molyneux,  who  died  in  1450  as  bishop 
of  Chichester  and  Keeper  of  the  Privy  Seal.  I 
do  not  know  that  the  temper  of  New  Learning, 
or  the  hopes  of  its  followers  in  England,  can  be 
better  expressed  than  in  a  somewhat  patro- 
nising letter  which  ^Eneas  wrote  to  his  English 
disciple : 

"  I  read  your  letter  with  eagerness,  and 
wondered  that  Latin  style  had  penetrated  even 
into  Britain.     It  is  true  that  there  have  been 

2 — 2 


20  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

amongst  the  English  some  who  have  cultivated 
the  eloquence  of  Cicero,  amongst  whom  common 
consent  would  place  the  Venerable  Bede.  Peter 
of  Blois  was  far  inferior,  and  I  prefer  your 
letter  to  any  of  his.  For  this  advance  all 
gratitude  is  due  to  the  illustrious  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  who  zealously  received  polite  learning 
into  your  kingdom.  I  hear  that  he  cultivates 
poets,  and  venerates  orators ;  hence  many 
Englishmen  now  turn  out  really  eloquent.  For 
as  are  the  princes  so  are  the  people ;  and  ser- 
vants progress  through  imitating  their  masters. 
Persevere  therefore,  friend  Adam.  Hold  fast 
and  increase  the  eloquence  you  possess :  con- 
sider it  the  most  honourable  thing  possible  to 
excel  your  fellows  in  that  in  which  men  excel 
other  living  creatures.  Great  is  eloquence ; 
nothing  so  much  rules  the  world.  Political 
action  is  the  result  of  persuasion ;  his  opinion 
prevails  with  the  people  who  best  knows  how 
to  persuade  them." 

Let  me  remark  in  passing  that  these  words 


IN  ENGLAND. 


were  written  in  1444.  They  may  make  us 
doubt  if  the  growth  of  democracy  has  done  so 
much  as  we  commonly  think  to  develop  the 
methods  of  politics. 

I  will  not  weary  you  by  any  account  of  the 
Italian  scholars  whom  Duke  Humphrey  patro- 
nised. It  is  enough  to  say  that  he  did  every- 
thing which  befitted  a  literary  prince.  He  has 
the  merit  of  causing  Latin  translations  to  be 
made  of  two  such  works  as  the  Politics  of 
Aristotle  and  the  Republic  of  Plato.  Besides 
translations  he  encouraged  the  writing  of  such 
treatises  as  the  age  enjoyed,  discussions  of 
questions  of  no  particular  meaning  for  the  sake 
of  gathering  round  them  a  certain  amount  of 
recondite  knowledge,  of  exercising  dialectical 
skill  and  exhibiting  the  beauty  of  a  classical 
style.  The  subjects  resemble  those  which 
virtuous  schoolboys  might  presumably  choose  if 
they  were  left  to  select  topics  for  essays — e.g. 
the  difference  between  virtues  and  vices:  or,  a 
comparison  of  the  life  of  a  student  and  that  of 


22  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

a  warrior.  Besides  receiving  such  compositions 
from  others  Humphrey  was  himself  a  letter- 
writer,  and  sent  presents  of  books  to  other 
princes,  with  appropriate  remarks  on  the  fitness 
of  the  work  for  the  character  of  its  recipient. 
Further  he  welcomed  in  England  an  unknown 
Italian,  who  took  the  high-sounding  name  of 
Titus  Livius,  and  constituted  himself  the  bio- 
grapher of  Henry  V.  Nor  did  Humphrey 
neglect  English  writers  ;  he  befriended  Pecock, 
Capgrave  and  Lydgate.  I  do  not  see  that  he 
omitted  anything  which  became  one  who  formed 
himself  on  the  best  Italian  model. 

In  this  endeavour  he  was  followed  by  a 
nobleman  who  went  to  Italy  and  there  studied 
to  perfect  himself  in  his  part,  John  Tiptoft, 
Earl  of  Worcester.  Tiptoft  attended  lectures  at 
Venice,  Padua,  Florence  and  Rome.  He  rambled 
alone  through  the  streets  of  these  cities,  going 
where  chance  led  him,  and  drinking  in  the  in- 
herent charm  of  Italy.  He  addressed  .^neas 
Sylvius,  who  had  become  Pope  Pius  II.,  in  a 


IN  ENGLAND.  23 

speech  of  such  exquisite  Latinity  that  it  brought 
tears  into  the  eyes  of  that  too  susceptible  pontiff. 
He  was  a  good  customer  to  the  great  Florentine 
bookseller,  Vespasiano  di  Bisticci,  who  has  placed 
him,  as  the  only  Englishman,  among  the  great 
scholars  of  the  time  whose  lives  he  wrote. 

But  Tiptoft  learned  more  from  Italy  than 
Englishmen  approved  of  Into  the  unscrupulous 
politics  of  the  dark  days  of  Henry  VI.  he 
introduced  an  Italian  carelessness  of  human 
life.  The  people  hated  him  for  his  cruelty  and 
called  him  "the  butcher  of  England."  His 
Italian  biographer  tells  us  that,  when  he  was 
beheaded  on  Tower  Hill  in  1470,  the  mob  cried 
out  that  he  deserved  to  die  because  he  had 
brought  to  England  the  laws  of  Padua.  I  think 
that  this  is  an  undue  charge  against  English 
insularity,  great  as  it  was  ;  and  that  the  mob 
cried  out  against  his  use  of  the  treacherous 
methods  of  Italian  politics.  Anyhow  Tiptoft  is 
a  conspicuous  example  of  that  truth,  so  often 
taught    and    so    constantly    disregarded,    that 


24  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

when  a  scholar  takes  to  politics  his  scholarship 
does  not  save  him  from  occasionally  losing  his 
head. 

The  troubled  times  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses 
dashed  the  prospects  of  court  patronage;  but 
the  tradition  still  remained.  Even  so  staid  a 
king  as  Henry  VII.  had  a  court  poet  and 
historian,  Bernard  Andre,  a  native  of  Toulouse. 
Andre's  poetry  is  irrepressible.  We  wish  he 
had  told  us  more  facts  and  sung  us  fewer  Sap- 
phic odes,  which  are  at  best  an  imperfect  medium 
for  conveying  accurate  information.  Moreover 
Henry  curiously  favoured  some  Italians  who 
came  to  England  in  the  unpopular  capacity  of 
collectors  of  the  papal  dues.  One  of  them, 
Giovanni  dei  Gigli,  did  his  best  to  throw  some 
romance  over  Henry's  prosaic  marriage  by  a 
fervent  Epithalamium,  which  gave  England  some 
excellent  political  advice.  For  this  and  other 
services  he  was  made  bishop  of  Worcester,  in 
which  office  he  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew, 
and   afterwards   by  another    Italian,   Gerolamo 


IN  ENGLAND.  25 


Ghinucci.  The  practical  sense  of  English  kings 
combined  patronage  of  Humanism  with  require- 
ments of  diplomatic  service,  and  paid  for  both 
out  of  the  revenues  of  the  Church.  Yet  these 
men  were  useful  in  their  way  as  means  of 
literary  communication  with  Italy.  Ghinucci 
engineered  at  Rome  Wolsey's  plan  for  founding 
Cardinal  College  out  of  monastic  revenues,  and 
was  employed  to  seek  for  books,  and  order 
transcripts  of  Greek  MSS.  He  even  sent 
Wolsey  catalogues  of  the  Libraries  of  the 
Vatican  and  of  Venice,  that  he  might  select  such 
books  as  should  be  most  useful  for  the  Library 
of  his  College.  Another  Italian,  Polidore  Vergil 
of  Urbino,  was  not  so  fortunate  in  winning 
Wolsey's  favour ;  but  he  avenged  himself  by 
writing  a  history  of  England  in  which  Wolsey  was 
steadily  depreciated.  Its  graceful  Latinity  made 
it  for  a  long  time  the  current  history  of  England 
on  the  Continent,  while  England  refused  to 
believe  that  a  foreigner  could  really  understand 
its  affairs.     In  yet  another  quarter  Italian  in- 


26  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

fluences  directly  operated  on  England.  It  was 
long  before  natives  could  write  Latin  letters  with 
freedom;  and  Henry  VIII.'s  Latin  Secretary, 
Andrea  Ammonio  of  Lucca,  was  a  close  friend 
and  a  kindly  instructor  of  the  eminent  English 
scholars  of  his  time. 

I  have  said  enough  about  the  foreign  side  of 
the  Renaissance  in  England.  English  learning 
was  not  affected  by  courtly  patronage,  nor  was 
it  much  influenced  by  the  presence  of  foreign 
scholars.  The  pursuit  of  style  had  little  attrac- 
tion for  Englishmen,  nor  did  those  who  strove 
after  it  acquire  any  great  facility.  Very  few,  if 
indeed  any,  seem  to  have  learned  from  the 
Italian  scholars  who  were  brought  to  grace 
courtly  society.  Such  Englishmen  as  wished  to 
learn  went  for  that  purpose  to  Italy,  where  they 
prepared  themselves  to  vie  with  the  Italians  on 
their  own  ground.  In  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century  we  find  a  small  body  of  Oxford  men  who 
responded  to  the  impulse  given  by  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  and  wandered  to  Italy  to  seek  there 


IN  ENGLAND.  27 


that  instruction  which  England  could  not  give. 
These  self-selected  Humanists  have  scarcely 
been  appreciated  as  they  deserve,  and  I  would 
venture  to  trace  the  outlines  of  their  careers.  I 
think  the  first  to  set  the  example  was  William 
Grey,  of  the  family  of  Lord  Grey  of  Codnor, 
who  after  learning  what  he  could  at  Balliol 
College  went  to  Cologne,  which  was  in  advance 
of  England  in  logic,  philosophy  and  theology. 
But  Grey  had  a  desire  for  classical  culture,  which 
Cologne  could  not  supply,  and  resolved  to  seek 
it  in  Italy.  Being  a  man  of  wealth,  he  lived 
with  some  state;  and  the  burghers  of  Cologne 
found  him  so  profitable  a  resident,  that  they 
were  unwilling  to  let  him  go.  To  escape  from 
their  embarrassing  hospitality  he  had  to  feign  a 
serious  illness,  and  then  flee  by  night  with  his 
complaisant  physician,  both  disguised  as  Irish 
pilgrims.  He  went  to  Florence,  where  he  ordered 
a  library  of  books :  thence  to  Padua,  and  finally 
to  the  great  Italian  teacher,  Guarino,  who  was 
then  lecturing  at  Ferrara.     He  was  made   by 


28  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

Henry  VI.  his  representative  at  the  papal  court; 
and  the  great  literary  pope,  Nicholas  V.,  so 
admired  his  learning  that  he  nominated  him 
bishop  of  Ely  in  1454.  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  bishop  Grey's  scholarly  tastes  found  no 
response  in  the  University  of  his  diocese.  At 
all  events  he  passed  by  Cambridge,  and  set  his 
hopes  of  a  classical  revival  on  his  old  College 
at  Oxford,  to  which  he  gave  a  large  sum  for  the 
purpose  of  building  a  library,  which  was  to  hold 
the  literary  treasures  acquired  in  Italy.  His 
collection  amounted  to  two  hundred  MSS., 
many  of  which  still  remain. 

It  would  seem  that  Grey  had  made  friends 
at  Balliol  of  men  likeminded  with  himself,  who 
listened  to  his  enthusiastic  reports  of  the  excel- 
lence of  Guarino's  teaching  and  set  out  to  join 
their  comrade  at  Ferrara,  The  first  of  these  was 
John  Free,  a  poor  student  whose  expenses  were 
probably  paid  by  Grey.  Free,  besides  Latin  and 
Greek,  learned  botany  and  also  medicine,  which 
he   both   taught   and   practised    at  Padua  and 


IN  ENGLAND.  29 


Florence.  He  was,  however,  above  all  things  a 
scholar,  made  several  translations  from  the  Greek, 
and  wrote  a  cosmography.  He  went  to  Rome 
where  Pope  Paul  H.  testified  to  his  merits  by 
appointing  him  bishop  of  Bath  in  1465,  but  he 
died  before  consecration. 

Free,  in  his  turn,  invited  to  Italy  another 
Balliol  friend,  John  Gunthorp,  who  as  soon  as  he 
had  learned  to  make  Latin  speeches  returned  to 
England,  was  employed  by  the  king  for  the 
purpose  of  going  on  complimentary  embassies, 
which  the  decorum  of  the  fifteenth  century  rigor- 
ously demanded,  and  finally  was  made  dean  of 
Wells.  There  he  built  the  deanery  house,  much 
of  which  still  remains,  bearing  clear  traces  of  the 
influence  exercised  by  Italian  architecture  on 
the  new  houses  which  were  beginning  to  replace 
the  castle.  Gunthorp  has  some  interest  for  us, 
for  he  was  for  a  time  Warden  of  King's  Hall 
(which  was  absorbed  into  Trinity  College)  and 
bequeathed  some  of  his  MSS.  to  Jesus  College, 
which  was  founded  a  year  before  his  death.     He 


30  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

obviously  had  greater  hopes  of  Cambridge  than 
had  his  friend  Grey. 

There  is  yet  another  who  belonged  to  this 
curious  band,  Robert  Fleming,  who  stayed  at 
home  till  he  was  appointed  dean  of  Lincoln, 
and  then  joined  his  friends  at  Ferrara.  Thence 
he  went  to  Rome  and  was  in  time  appointed 
English  representative  at  the  papal  court.  He 
had  a  country  house  at  Tivoli,  where  he  com- 
posed a  long  Latin  poem  in  honour  of  Pope 
Sixtus  IV.,  to  which  he  gave  the  title  Lucubra- 
tiones  TiburtincB,  to  mark,  I  suppose,  that  it  was 
the  work  of  a  busy  man  in  villeggiatura. 

I  have  wearied  you  with  these  details.  But 
they  were  necessary  to  prove  my  conclusion. 
There  was  no  real  interest  in  scholarship  in 
England.  Patronage  could  not  create  it,  nor 
could  foreign  example  plant  it  and  make  it 
grow.  The  only  result  of  the  attempt  was  to 
kindle  interest  in  a  chosen  few,  who  went  to 
Italy  in  search  of  a  career,  and  when  they 
returned  to  occupy  eminent  posts  at  home  felt 


IN  ENGLAND.  31 

that  they  had  left  their  literary  life  behind  them. 
All  that  they  could  do  was  to  provide  books 
and  leave  them  where  others  in  happier  times 
might  read  them.  England  was  exceptionally 
callous  to  the  attractions  of  culture,  as  such. 

These  men  were  Latin ists,  stylists,  engaged 
with  form  rather  than  content,  opening  out  no 
new  intellectual  horizon.  It  was  not  till  the 
value  of  Greek  thought  became  in  some  degree 
manifest  that  the  New  Learning  awakened  any 
enthusiasm  in  England.  An  increase  of  know- 
ledge was  worth  working  for,  not  a  development 
of  style.  Englishmen  were  little  moved  by 
purely  aesthetic  perceptions.  They  were  willing 
to  accept  what  was  proved  to  be  useful,  or  true  ; 
they  were  not  much  affected  by  what  was  only 
beautiful.  English  society  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury was  engaged  in  developing  trade,  and  its 
tone  was  eminently  practical.  The  nobles  who 
followed  the  Italian  model  in  developing  their 
individuality  were  not  appreciated  and  ended 
ill.     The  New  Learning,  if  it  was  to  take  root 


32  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

in  England,  must  come  into  definite  connexion 
with  English  life  and  temper. 

It  was  another  band  of  Oxford  men  who 
gave  it  this  form,  and  so  secured  for  it  an 
abiding  home.  The  first  Englishman  who 
studied  Greek  was  William  Selling,  of  All 
Souls  College,  afterwards  Prior  of  Christ 
Church,  Canterbury.  In  the  monastery  school 
he  breathed  his  own  enthusiasm  into  one  of  his 
pupils,  Thomas  Linacre,  who  with  two  friends, 
William  Grocyn  and  Thomas  Latimer,  went  to 
Italy  for  the  special  purpose  of  learning  Greek. 
These  men  differed  from  their  predecessors  in 
that  they  were  not  wandering  scholars,  but  were 
academic  to  the  core.  When  they  had  learned 
what  they  wanted,  they  returned  to  Oxford  and 
taught.  Moreover  they  applied  their  learning 
to  practice.  Latimer  and  Grocyn  were  theolo- 
gians ;  Linacre  was  the  most  eminent  physician 
of  his  day.  Grocyn  showed  what  a  knowledge 
of  Greek  could  do  for  theology  by  proving  that 
the  treatise  on  "  The  Ecclesiastical  Hierarchy," 


IN  ENGLAND.  33 


attributed  to  Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  could 
not  have  been  written  by  him.  This  was  the 
introduction  of  criticism  into  England.  Linacre 
revived  classical  medicine,  by  his  translation  of 
Galen,  and  so  prepared  the  way  for  its  more 
scientific  study.  He  left  a  considerable  estate 
for  the  foundation  of  three  lectureships  in  medi- 
cine, two  at  Oxford,  and  one  at  Cambridge. 

This  brings  me  to  a  point  which  is  of  im- 
portance. As  soon  as  it  was  seen  that  the  New 
Learning  had  a  vivifying  influence  on  thought, 
an  attempt  was  made  to  provide  for  it  in  the 
Universities.  Doubtless  this  was  largely  due 
to  the  academic  patriotism  shown  by  Linacre 
and  Grocyn.  Their  predecessors  tried  to 
leaven  English  life  directly;  they  trusted  to 
high,  position,  to  patronage,  to  their  personal 
reputation,  to  their  practical  success.  They 
entirely  failed  to  produce  any  effect.  England 
was  slow  to  move,  and  was  not  to  be  fascinated 
by  brilliancy.  Culture  did  not  radiate  from  the 
royal  court  or  from  the  efforts  of  stray  bishops. 

c  3 


34  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

Englishmen  in  a  dim  way  seemed  to  agree  that 
the  Universities  were  the  organs  of  national  life 
for  the  purpose  of  promoting  learning.  In  fact 
I  think  that  nowhere  does  the  English  temper 
show  itself  more  clearly  than  in  its  relation  to 
the  Universities.  Two  centres  of  intellectual 
life  came  into  being,  we  can  hardly  say  how: 
but  so  soon  as  two  existed,  great  objection  was 
felt  to  the  creation  of  any  more.  They  were 
enough  for  local  convenience.  They  were 
enough  to  excite  emulation  and  display  slightly 
different  tendencies.  Attempts  to  add  to  the 
number  were  rigorously  suppressed.  It  seems 
as  if  the  notion  of  two  parties,  to  keep  one 
another  in  order,  was  an  ideal  of  early  growth, 
and  was  dimly  felt  in  the  domain  of  learning 
before  it  was  extended  to  the  domain  of  politics. 
Anyhow  England  looked  coldly  on  the  New 
Learning  till  it  forced  its  way  into  the  Univer- 
sities and  proved  its  practical  utility.  When  it 
had  thus  attracted  attention,  had  shown  its 
power,  and  had  declared   its  combativeness,  it 


IN  ENGLAND.  35 


received  ready  help.  There  was  a  desire  to 
give  it  a  fair  chance,  and  allow  it  to  prove  its 
mettle  in  the  places  where  questions  respecting 
learning  ought  naturally  to  be  decided. 

Perhaps  one  cause  of  the  lethargy  which 
certainly  settled  on  the  Universities  in  the 
fifteenth  century  was  an  uneasy  feeling  that  the 
intellectual  future  belonged  to  the  Humanists, 
who  lived  outside  their  influence  and  whom  they 
could  not  assimilate.  The  Oxford  Hellenists 
reassured  men's  minds  of  their  loyalty  to  their 
Alma  Mater,  and  a  system  of  University  Ex- 
tension was  begun  in  consequence.  In  this 
Cambridge  slowly  and  tentatively,  with  an  eye 
to  strictly  practical  results,  took  the  lead  under 
the  influence  of  John  Fisher.  He  was  backed 
by  a  powerful  patron,  the  Lady  Margaret,  whose 
generosity  he  cautiously  diverted  into  academic 
channels.  He  began  on  a  small  scale  with  an 
object  of  immediate  usefulness,  the  foundation 
of  divinity  professorships  at  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge,  which   should   aim   at   teaching  pulpit 


36  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

eloquence.  On  this  point  the  adherents  of  the 
old  and  the  new  learning  might  agree.  If  style 
was  to  be  attended  to,  if  rhetoric  was  to  flourish, 
it  might  as  well  be  applied  to  the  great  engine  of 
popular  education.  The  professorship  at  Cam- 
bridge was  soon  supplemented  by  the  Lady  Mar- 
garet preachership,  the  holder  of  which  was  to  go 
from  place  to  place  and  give  a  cogent  example 
of  the  new  style  of  pulpit  oratory,  which  was 
ordered  to  be  free  from  "  cavillings  about  words 
and  parade  of  sophistry,  and  was  to  recommend 
God's  word  to  men's  minds  by  efficacious 
eloquence."  I  need  not  remind  you  that  the 
Lady  Margaret  was  so  well  pleased  with  the 
results  of  her  new  venture  that  she  went  on  to 
found  the  colleges  of  Christ  and  of  St  John. 
Patronage  had  now  been  successfully  diverted 
to  enrich  and  extend  the  resources  of  the 
ancient  seat  of  learning. 

It  must,  however,  be  admitted  that  the 
animating  motive  of  Fisher's  endeavours  was  a 
laudable  desire  to  raise  Cambridge  to  the  level 


IN  ENGLAND.  yj 


which  Oxford  had  already  reached.  The  ex- 
ample of  the  early  Hellenists  still  survived,  and 
John  Colet  followed  the  example  of  his  teachers 
Grocyn  and  Linacre.  in  spending  three  years  in 
Italy.  On  his  return  in  1496  he  went  to  Oxford 
and  as  a  volunteer  delivered  a  course  of  lectures 
on  S.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  in  which  he 
abandoned  the  scholastic  method  of  interpreting 
sentence  by  sentence,  or  word  by  word,  and 
endeavoured  to  discover  the  meaning  of  the 
whole.  It  is  most  probable  that  the  effect 
produced  by  Colet's  lectures  suggested  to  Fisher 
the  foundation  of  a  professorship  at  Cambridge, 
by  which  the  new  method  might  have  a  secure 
footing  and  not  depend  on  the  personal  efforts 
of  individuals.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  fame  of 
Colet,  Grocyn  and  Linacre,  to  whom  was  added 
an  attractive  youth,  Thomas  More,  made  Oxford 
renowned,  and  drew  thither  the  eager  scholar, 
Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  who  gives  a  charming 
picture  of  the  delights  of  academical  society. 
« When  I  listen  to  my  friend  Colet,"  he  wrote, 

3—3 


38  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

"  I  seem  to  be  listening  to  Plato  himself.  Who 
does  not  admire  in  Grocyn  the  perfection  of 
training  ?  What  can  be  more  acute,  more 
profound,  or  more  refined  than  the  judgement 
of  Linacre  ?  What  has  nature  ever  fashioned 
gentler,  sweeter  or  pleasanter  than  the  dispo- 
sition of  Thomas  More  ?"  Such  a  body  of 
scholars,  living  and  working  together,  sufficed 
to  establish  the  reputation  of  Oxford,  especially 
when  such  a  man  as  Erasmus  sang  their  praises 
to  the  learned  world. 

Fisher  steadily  kept  before  his  eyes  a  like 
possibility  for  Cambridge,  and  in  15  ii  sum- 
moned Erasmus  to  teach  Greek  and  lecture  on 
the  foundation  of  the  Lady  Margaret.  I  need 
not  speak  of  this  interesting  episode  in  our 
history,  as  it  is  not  long  since  Professor  Jebb 
brought  before  you  its  picturesque  significance. 
Erasmus  tells  how  within  the  space  of  thirty 
years  the  studies  of  the  University  had  pro- 
gressed from  the  old  Grammar,  Logic,  and 
scholastic    questions    to    some    knowledge    of 


IN  ENGLAND.  39 


polite  letters,  mathematics,  the  renewed  study 
of  Aristotle,  and  the  study  of  Greek.  Cambridge 
has  so  flourished,  he  adds,  that  it  can  vie  with 
the  chief  schools  of  the  age. 

In  fact,  if  the  revival  in  Cambridge  was 
slower  and  less  brilliant  than  at  Oxford,  it  was 
more  secure,  for  it  rested  on  the  cautious  and 
careful  supervision  of  Fisher,  who  had  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Lady  Margaret's  new  Colleges  at  his 
back.  In  Oxford  the  departure  of  Linacre, 
Grocyn,  and  Colet  removed  the  spell  of  domi- 
nant personalities,  which  strangely  enough  has 
at  many  times  lent  a  picturesque  interest  to 
Oxford  which  Cambridge  can  rarely  claim. 
With  their  departure  the  glory  of  the  New 
Learning  departed  also,  as  they  left  no  equally 
distinguished  successors.  It  was  clear  that,  if 
Oxford  had  given  the  stimulus  to  new  studies, 
Cambridge  was  more  skilful  in  providing  for 
them  a  permanent  home.  If  progress  was  to  be 
made,  Oxford  must  copy  the  methods  of  Cam- 
bridge.    The  man  who  grasped  this  fact,  and 


40  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

taught  it  to  Wolsey,  Richard  Fox,  bishop  of 
Winchester,  had  special  means  of  knowing  it, 
as  he  had  been  Chancellor  of  Cambridge  and 
Master  of  Pembroke.  In  1516  Fox  founded 
Corpus  Christi  College  at  Oxford,  avowedly  in 
the  interests  of  the  New  Learning.  But  here 
again  we  may  notice  a  characteristic  difference 
between  the  two  Universities.  Fisher  had  gone 
his  way  quietly,  without  laying  down  new  prin- 
ciples in  such  a  shape  as  to  awaken  antagonism, 
content  with  slowly  breaking  down  barriers  and 
finding  room  for  the  new  studies  by  the  side  of 
the  old.  Fox  on  the  other  hand  blew  the 
trumpet  of  revolt,  and  his  statutes  breathe  notes 
of  defiance.  His  College  is  to  be  a  beehive  ;  its 
lecturers  are  gardeners  who  are  to  provide 
wholesome  plants  on  which  the  bees  may 
browse.  They  are  "  to  root  out  barbarism  from 
the  garden  and  cast  it  forth,  should  it  at  any 
time  germinate  therein."  When  metaphors  are 
dropped,  provision  is  made,  for  lecturers  who 
are  to  teach  Greek  and  Latin  Classical  authors. 


IN  ENGLAND.  41 


This,  be  it  noticed,  is  the  first  establishment  of  a 
teacher  of  Greek  in  England,  as  previous  efforts 
had  been  voluntary  or  else  temporary.  Still 
more  significant  was  the  provision  for  a  Reader 
in  Divinity,  who  is  to  follow  the  ancient  doctors, 
both  Latin  and  Greek,  and  not  the  Schoolmen, 
who  are  pronounced  to  be  "both  in  time  and 
learning  far  below  them."  This  was  a  bold 
declaration  of  war  both  in  its  depreciation  of 
the  Schoolmen,  and  in  its  recognition  of  Greek 
theology.  It  led  to  a  formidable  rising  of  the 
Old  Learning,  whose  supporters  dubbed  them- 
selves Trojans,  and  assaulted  the  audacious 
Grecians  in  the  streets.  Fox's  beehive  was  in  a 
sorry  plight,  and  its  bees  found  it  difficult  to 
gather  honey.  More  had  to  interpose  with 
Wolsey,  and  Wolsey  sent  a  royal  letter  com- 
manding all  students  in  Oxford  to  study  Greek. 
It  was  the  handful  of  dust  necessary  to  restrain 
the  buzzing  of  the  angry  insects.  But  Wolsey 
made  the  matter  sure  by  proceeding  with  the 
foundation  of  Cardinal  College. 


42  THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE 

Thus  both  Universities  were  brought  into 
line,  and  the  position  of  the  New  Learning  was 
secured.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  carry  its 
progress  further.  It  was  just  at  this  time,  in 
the  year  1518,  that  Sir  Robert  Rede,  who  had 
been  a  fellow  of  King's  Hall,  and  died  as  Lord 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
bequeathed  by  will  to  the  University  a  small 
sum  of  money  for  the  endowment  of  lecturers 
in  philosophy,  logic,  and  rhetoric.  His  bequest 
was  an  indication  of  the  revived  interest  which 
was  felt  in  the  Universities,  and  of  the  desire 
that  room  should  be  found  in  them  for  every 
branch  of  knowledge.  The  spirit  of  his  intention 
has  been  observed  by  the  institution  of  this 
annual  lecture,  which  recognises  the  usefulness 
of  an  occasional  divagation  from  the  ordinary 
course  of  studies,  an  occasional  invitation  to  the 
members  of  the  University  to  ramble  into  fields 
which  are  not  mapped  out  and  enclosed  for  that 
careful  and  methodical  tillage  which  a  Tripos 
Examination  necessarily  entails. 


IN  ENGLAND.  43 


The  history  of  Scholarship  is  generally  dis- 
regarded. We  commemorate  our  founders  and 
benefactors  without  troubling  ourselves  about 
their  immediate  purposes  and  motives.  It  is 
enough  for  our  gratitude  to  know  that  we  are 
because  they  were,  I  fear  that  I  may  seem 
pedantic  in  having  attempted  the  impossible 
task  of  condensing  into  an  hour's  lecture  the 
beginnings  of  the  New  Learning  in  England. 
I  did  so  from  a  sense  of  natural  piety ;  and  I 
hope  that  I  have  established  some  links  between 
the  present  and  the  past.  England  in  the  past 
showed  much  the  same  characteristics  as  England 
of  to-day.  It  was  not  to  be  captivated  by  bril- 
liancy. It  did  not  care  for  mere  graces  of  style. 
It  was  unmoved  by  attractive  novelties  till  they 
had  showed  a  capacity  for  sending  their  roots 
below  the  surface,  and  gave  promise  of  fruit  as 
well  as  flower.  Nor  would  England  receive  its 
learning  from  abroad.  If  there  was  anything 
worth  having  beyond  the  seas,  let  Englishmen 
go  and  bring  it  back,  and  adapt  it  to  the  shape 
in   which  it  was  fitted  for  home  consumption. 


44  THE  EARL  Y  RENAISSANCE. 

Patronage  and  court  favour  might  foster  an 
exotic  culture,  but  in  that  shape  it  would  not 
spread.  Further,  England  in  a  dull  sort  of  way- 
trusted  its  national  institutions,  even  when  they 
were  little  worthy  of  trust.  Learning  was  a 
matter  for  the  Universities ;  if  they  were  not 
doing  what  they  ought  to  do,  those  who  were 
interested  in  the  matter  must  set  them  right. 
Questions  concerning  learning  must  be  decided 
in  the  places  set  apart  for  that  purpose  from 
time  immemorial.  New  inventions  were  good 
wherever  they  came  from,  if  they  were  proved 
useful ;  but  the  goods  for  English  consumption 
must  be  manufactured  by  the  old  established 
firms,  and  their  premises  must  be  enlarged  for 
the  purpose.  Again  I  say,  England  trusted  its 
Universities  in  the  past.  It  is  in  consequence 
of  that  trust  that  I  have  had  the  privilege  of 
addressing  you  to-day.  I  thought  that  I  could 
not  use  the  opportunity  better  than  by  recalling 
a  fact  which  brings  with  it  an  abiding  sense 
alike  of  dignity  and  of  responsibility. 

Cambridge:  printed  by  j.  &  c.  f.  clay,   at  the  university  press. 


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